Roadshow: $500 cellphone fine seems fair to many

Q Read your column about your wishes for the new year, and would like to chime in on one.

Not only should they increase the fine to $500 for using a handheld cellphone while driving, they should make it a moving violation as well. That way, in addition to the fine, it would be points against the driver's record, hopefully adding incentive for habitual offenders to cease and desist this flagrantly dangerous practice.

Jeff Torr

Benicia

A My suggestion to more than triple the fine for using a handheld cellphone while driving hit a nerve -- a popular nerve.

A motorist talks on a cell phone. (Associated Press)

Q A $500 fine for a first offense would be a nice start, but how about a point or two on one's record also? At $500 only, quite a few, like with the carpool lane violation fine, will just keep driving while phoning or texting, figuring getting caught every year or so is still worth the 500 bucks. I agree 100 percent that fines for using a handheld cellphone should be increased to at least $500. These scofflaws have been one of my pet peeves for years -- more so now that I drive a Toyota Tacoma and am able to see even more violators than before.

William Ortendahl and others

A And ...

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Q You asked whether a $500 fine "would do the trick." No, placing a $500 value on the lives of victims won't make any more difference than previous proposed fines. Until there is a real impact to violators, such as allowing police to confiscate their devices, cellphone use and texting will continue unabated. Everything enacted so far has made no difference or impact. My estimate is no less than 6 out of 10 people driving are "using."

John Williams

San Jose

A That would seem low to many.

Q Instead of a fine for texting or cellphone use while driving, they should suspend their license for six months for a first offense, one year for a second offense and loss of license after a third.

George Takahashi

A Now that would keep Roadshow humming for another 20 years!

Q One set of bulb-outs on The Alameda has created a problem for me and others. I work at a church at Shasta and The Alameda and go home via I-880. It is often hard, even impossible, to turn left onto the Alameda toward I-880. The reasonable thing to do has been to turn right, then make a legal U-turn at the light at Julian Street, so as to be headed toward the freeway. One day, I needed to go that way to get home, but found, to my embarrassment, that I couldn't complete the turn and had to back up, because a bubble had been constructed.

Many people are accustomed to making this U-turn, which is at a very important spot. They did not mark the turn as no U-turn, either.

Was this a mistake?

Mary Anne James

Los Altos

A Signs alerting drivers to a ban on U-turns at Julian will be up soon. The city believes the rebuilt intersection will improve pedestrian safety, as the crossing is now shorter at Julian and The Alameda. You can make U-turns at Morrison Avenue and Sunol Avenue.